Thursday, March 15, 2007
FINAL: OSU 78 CCSU 57
By John Chandler
Not that we're getting too comfortable here in our courtside seat at Rupp, but let's scan the rest of the March Madness field. Trust me, there's no chance of jinxing the Buckeyes before the final gun sounds. Greg Oden is now assuring that, coming to life in here with two more dunks (17 points with 5:17 to play) that bring me to one quick side note: when he dunks, he just may overdo it a tad. He barely has to jump to crush the rim with both hands, and often brings the telophone poles that he's blessed with for legs up like he's doing an extended leg lift. It's all about the image, I guess.
Upset Special
The first day of tourney play is missing one thing: an upset. Michigan State, in true Tom Izzo fashion, appears to be working on one with Marquette, and Xavier still plays BYU tonight at Rupp, but those are 8 vs. 9 matchups. Numbers say it's an upset, but I don't. They're more like a toss up. And forget the 16 vs. 1 happening. Ever. No channeling Western Carolina here. But what about a nice 11 vs. 6 bracket buster? Stanford tried... well, on second thought no, they really didn't.
Wish You Were Here, Zips
While I'm on the subject of Stanford, after watching their effort against Louisville at Rupp this afternoon, I really felt for Akron. On Selection Sunday, I wondered whether there was truly justification for allowing the 18 win Cardinal into the NCAA Tournament and leaving the 26 win Zips to watch from their dorm rooms. Tonight, I'm no longer wondering, I'm convinced: Akron would've put up a better fight. They may not have had a chance agaist Louisville, but c'mon, like Stanford even gave themselves one?
Pitino Returns
I've gotta mention Rick Pitino before returning to the in-game action (you're not missing anything, I promise). The Louisville coach was quite candid about his return to Rupp in his post game press conference. He admitted he always has reservations about coming back to Lexington, where he coached Kentucky to a title in 1996. He said his wife had to talk him into taking the job with Louisville, reasoning that he only has to make that 70-odd mile trip to play his now-rival once.
On his talented freshman, he said to a writer that they play great offense, "but couldn't guard you."
Love that kind of honesty.
Wow. Daequan Cook just dotted the exclamation point with an alley-oop dunk at the 1:00 minute markk.
This one's a wrap.
OSU 78 CCSU 57
MVP: Oden was nice, but I'll take Ron Lewis or Jamar Butler.
See you Saturday... against Xavier? We'll see.
Not that we're getting too comfortable here in our courtside seat at Rupp, but let's scan the rest of the March Madness field. Trust me, there's no chance of jinxing the Buckeyes before the final gun sounds. Greg Oden is now assuring that, coming to life in here with two more dunks (17 points with 5:17 to play) that bring me to one quick side note: when he dunks, he just may overdo it a tad. He barely has to jump to crush the rim with both hands, and often brings the telophone poles that he's blessed with for legs up like he's doing an extended leg lift. It's all about the image, I guess.
Upset Special
The first day of tourney play is missing one thing: an upset. Michigan State, in true Tom Izzo fashion, appears to be working on one with Marquette, and Xavier still plays BYU tonight at Rupp, but those are 8 vs. 9 matchups. Numbers say it's an upset, but I don't. They're more like a toss up. And forget the 16 vs. 1 happening. Ever. No channeling Western Carolina here. But what about a nice 11 vs. 6 bracket buster? Stanford tried... well, on second thought no, they really didn't.
Wish You Were Here, Zips
While I'm on the subject of Stanford, after watching their effort against Louisville at Rupp this afternoon, I really felt for Akron. On Selection Sunday, I wondered whether there was truly justification for allowing the 18 win Cardinal into the NCAA Tournament and leaving the 26 win Zips to watch from their dorm rooms. Tonight, I'm no longer wondering, I'm convinced: Akron would've put up a better fight. They may not have had a chance agaist Louisville, but c'mon, like Stanford even gave themselves one?
Pitino Returns
I've gotta mention Rick Pitino before returning to the in-game action (you're not missing anything, I promise). The Louisville coach was quite candid about his return to Rupp in his post game press conference. He admitted he always has reservations about coming back to Lexington, where he coached Kentucky to a title in 1996. He said his wife had to talk him into taking the job with Louisville, reasoning that he only has to make that 70-odd mile trip to play his now-rival once.
On his talented freshman, he said to a writer that they play great offense, "but couldn't guard you."
Love that kind of honesty.
Wow. Daequan Cook just dotted the exclamation point with an alley-oop dunk at the 1:00 minute markk.
This one's a wrap.
OSU 78 CCSU 57
MVP: Oden was nice, but I'll take Ron Lewis or Jamar Butler.
See you Saturday... against Xavier? We'll see.
Posted at 5:40 PM
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